Austria | Common News Update

Mar22021 by adminNo Comments

The Latest: Austria, Denmark to work with Israel on vaccines

Health

BERLIN — Austria’s leader says his country and Denmark intend to stop relying solely on the European Union for coronavirus vaccines and will work with Israel to produce second-generation vaccines.Chancellor Sebastian Kurz plans to visit Israel with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday and confer with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on vaccine research and production cooperation.The EU has faced criticism for its slow vaccine rollout, while Israel has vaccinated a large part of its population. Kurz said in a statement Tuesday to the Austria Press Agency that it was right in principle to take a European-wide approach to inoculations, but maintained that the European Medicines Agency has been too slow to approve vaccines and pointed to companies’ delivery shortfalls.He added:...

Nov62020 by adminNo Comments

Austria closes mosque, Islamic center linked to Vienna attacker

World

Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Austrian authorities on Friday said they shut down a mosque and an Islamic organization linked to a terror attack in Vienna that left four victims dead earlier this week. A local intelligence official also resigned in response to the shooting. Advertisement Integration Minister Susanne Raab and Interior Minister Karl Nehammer announced they shuttered the Tewhid Mosque and the Melit Ibrahim Association. They did so after a meeting with Umit Vural, the president of the Islamic Faith Community in Austria. Raab said the attacker, Fujtim Fejzulai, frequented the two locations, neither of which held a "positive attitude toward society and the state," according to the country's so-called Islam Law. She said the decision to close the locations was not an attack on Islam. "The goal...

Nov42020 by adminNo Comments

Police say gunmen who killed 4 in Austria terror attack ‘motivated by hate’

World

Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Austrian authorities confirmed on Tuesday that four people have died and almost two dozen were injured in a terrorist attack in Vienna they say was "motivated by hate." At least one shooter armed with an automatic rifle opened fire in multiple locations on Monday night, including the street near a synagogue, officials said. Advertisement One attacker was shot dead by police outside St. Rupert's church. He was carrying an explosive belt and a bag filled with ammunition, investigators say. Police on Tuesday identified the dead gunman as a 20-year-old man with dual Austrian and North Macedonian citizenship who had a previous criminal conviction for "terrorist association." Authorities said he'd served time in prison last year for attempting to join the Islamic State in Syria...

Jul62020 by adminNo Comments

Russian man killed in Austria had declined police protection

World

Autrian police say a Russian man shot dead near Vienna over the weekend had declined police protection before the killingByThe Associated PressJuly 6, 2020, 10:05 AM2 min readBERLIN -- A Russian man shot dead near Vienna over the weekend had declined police protection before the killing, Austrian police said Monday. Austrian media have reported that the killing of the 43-year-old, an ethnic Chechen who had lived in Austria for more than a decade, is being considered as a possible political assassination. The regional intelligence and anti-terrorism authority is involved in the case. Its head, Roland Scherscher, told the Austria Press Agency that the motive remains unclear, and that a political motive or perhaps an argument are both possible. A 47-year-old Russian man was detained in Linz...

Feb242020 by adminNo Comments

Austria considers border controls as Italy searches for coronavirus superspreader

World

Austria is assembling a coronavirus taskforce to discuss whether to introduce border controls with Italy, where a fourth person has died.About a dozen towns in Italy are in lockdown as authorities race to contain the biggest outbreak of coronavirus in Europe. At least 152 people in Italy have been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and there have been four deaths over the past 48 hours.The latest victim was an 84-year-old man from Bergamo, according to Sky News Italia. He is the third death in the northern Lombardy region. Image: A train stopped by authorities on the Italian side of the Brenner Pass On Sunday evening, Austria refused entry to a train coming from Italy after the Italian State Railways inform...